The Garden Black

By Frank Prem

The Garden Black poetry collection is a venture into fantasy and speculative fiction based on the dual themes of rain forest and fantasy.

. The rainforest becomes a desert, and then the sea.

. A man in a satellite orbits the earth while playing his violin and pondering. A girl gazes up at the passing light and dances.

. Od Ovo - a youth who is from here, raises the dust of frustrated boredom on a mining asteroid, and cannot believe traveller tales of places where water falls from the sky.

. What colour are the flowers in the Reaper's garden? They are all colours . . . They are black.

Welcome to the speculative fantasies that are The Garden Black.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Frank Prem
• Release date: Aug 29, 2022
• ISBN: 9781925963809

Frank Prem

Frank Prem has been a storytelling poet for forty years. When not writing or reading his poetry to an audience, he fills his time by working as a psychiatric nurse.He has been published in magazines, e-zines and anthologies, in Australia and in a number of other countries, and has both performed and recorded his work as ‘spoken word’.Frank has published several collections of free verse poetry – Small Town Kid (2018), Devil In The Wind (2019), and The New Asylum (2019). and A Love Poetry Trilogy (Walk Away Silver Heart; A Kiss for the Worthy; and Rescue and Redemption) in 2020, as well as a two part picture book – A Beechworth Bakery Bears e-Book and A Beechworth Bakery Bears e-Book (too).He and his wife live in the beautiful township of Beechworth in northeast Victoria (Australia).

Book preview

Garden_Black_front_cover_300.jpg

Publication Details

Title: The Garden Black

ISBN: 978-1-925963-50-2 (p-bk)

ISBN: 978-1-925963-80-9 (e-bk)

Published by Wild Arancini Press

2022

All rights reserved:

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher and author.

 ~

from a single root

all the roads of the universe

run

~

About The Garden Black 

 The Garden Black poetry collection is a venture into fantasy and speculative fiction that arose from the desire to write a worthy submission for inclusion in an anthology of stories based on the dual themes of rain forest and fantasy.

One idea turned into a multitude of stories:

The rainforest becomes a desert, and then the sea.

A man in a satellite orbits the earth while playing his violin and pondering. A girl gazes up at the passing light and dances.

Od Ovo - a youth who is from here, raises the dust of frustrated boredom on a mining asteroid, and cannot believe traveller tales of places where water falls from the sky.

What colour are the flowers in the Reaper’s garden? They are all colours . . .

They are black.

Welcome to the speculative fantasies that are The Garden Black.

The Garden Black 

being foolish

this

is not a job

you know

this is being

what

I am

I collect the beads

the shiny baubles

I lay the pattern

so . . .

just so

and this bead

must be placed

there

any other way

is foolish

I

am not

foolish

and when

my bower is completely . . .

so . . .

with the design

of me

laid down

at the door

I will

preen

for you

I

will show

my chest

my tail

my neck my eyes

my colour

I dance now

I dance . . .

look at me

the way

I dance

and I dance

this

is not

a foolish thing

I am

who I am

cello

mmmm

hmmmm

mmmm

mellow notes

to touch me

hmmmm

notes

to call